


Something Wild

by JustMe52



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Hawkins (Stranger Things), Jonathan Byers - Freeform, Something Wild, dustin henderson - Freeform, nancy wheeler - Freeform, stranger things
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:29:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23288551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustMe52/pseuds/JustMe52
Summary: (Stranger Things season one)Hawkins' daredevil finds her way into the chaos hidden within the town.





	1. 01 - Hawkins

Hawkins.

A small town located in Indiana, known for its suburban lifestyle, where children played in their front yards or ran off with their friends until their mothers called them in for dinner. A place where kids grew up and never left because they discovered their feet were rooted to the soil of the town, forced to live the same lives of their parents until the cycled repeated itself with their own children. 

The only excitement within the town occurred when a new pregnancy arose or someone built the courage to leave the dull town. 

The town was a quiet place. The streets of Hawkins were abandoned after ten o’clock; everyone secured in their homes, tucked their children into their beds, or watched television until sleep took over. They were content with their lives in the uneventful town, found happiness in living the same day over again without fear of crime infiltrating their lives. 

At the late hour of three in the morning, when the town was fast asleep in their beds, except for the few residents on the night shift, a piercing scream ripped through the night air on Mirkwood Street. A silver motorbike sped down the road with a single headlight illuminated the dark road ahead of them, well above the speed limit for the neighborhood, awakened a few unlucky people inside their homes. 

Blonde curls whipped through the chilly air as Thomas Jackson drove the two-wheeled vehicle down the road with the daredevil of the town wrapped around his waist, head tipped back without a helmet to feel the wind through her hair. She unraveled her arms and spread them out wide by her sides, wildly laughing into the open air, loving the feeling of being free without anyone to hold her back. 

Moments like those were the ones she lived for. 

One of Thomas’s hands reached back for the girl behind him, worried she might fall off in her drunken state as their bodies leaned to the left in sync when they turned down a dirt road. The bike slowed to a stop outside of the house she told him to bring her to. 

“Alright, home sweet home,” he nodded to the dark house, silently noted how no one seemed to be awake. 

“Not quite,” she whispered back in response. She clumsily climbed off the back of the motorbike, laughing to herself after she tripped over her dirty boots once she placed them on solid ground.

“Whoa there,” Thomas chuckled at her clumsiness. He glanced toward the front porch and then back to the drunk girl stood before him. “Maybe I should help you to the door…” 

“No, no.” The blonde strongly shook her head, grimaced at the surrounding area began to spin. She latched her hand around his shoulder over his corduroy jacket in an attempt to reassure him of her choices and balanced herself out. “I’ve got this,” she told him and gestured to herself with her other hand. 

Thomas smiled to himself. This wasn’t the first time he had to play designated driver and bring her back to Hawkins after partying in one town over. He usually brought her back to her house unless his sister offered to drive her back instead.

“I will see you…” her words slurred as she spoke to the senior boy. “— at the next party.” 

“I’ll let you know when it is,” he promised her with his forearms leaned against the handlebars. His forest green eyes never left her retreating figure as she wobbly made her way to the house. “Get a good night’s sleep, Haze.” 

Her right hand lifted above her head in the form of a peace sign. Her boots slipped on the dirt a few times from her lack of balance due to the alcohol running through her veins. The light from the motorbike provided a perfect path for her to follow up to the house until she turned left for the second window from the porch. Her legs wobbled beneath her with every step she took, fingers ran along the house to keep herself from falling over. 

A smile tugged on her lips when she felt the smooth glass beneath her fingertips. She formed a fist and softly knocked twice on the window with her knuckles, quietly laughing to herself, amused by the situation she found herself in once again. 

The silhouette of a small lamp flickered on inside of the bedroom after a few knocks. The weight of her body leaned against the cool glass, tiredly waiting for her best friend to follow the quiet noises to the window. 

A shadow appeared against the closed blinds and grew closer until they flipped open to reveal a sleepy, disheveled Jonathan Byers in striped pajama bottoms and a gray shirt. He sighed at the sight of his best friend outside of his window with a goofy grin on her face, frantically waving at him as if she hadn’t seen him just two days ago.

The smile on her face grew when he motioned at the wall that eventually connected to the front door. The blonde struggled to walk back to the front porch, hand grasped on the side of the house for support. The ground felt uneven beneath the soles of her boots and she surely thought the earth moved. 

A squeal of happiness filled the night air when she caught sight of Jonathan through the opening of the door, arms wrapped around his chest. 

“Hazel, what are you doing here?” Jonathan whispered, drowsiness thick in his voice. He winced at the cold wood against his bare feet. 

Jonathan!” She beamed at her taller friend.

The toe of her right boot caught against the second step of the porch. She barely regained her balance when she reached out for Jonathan’s outstretched arms. A frown slipped on her lips as she pointed at the stairs. 

“Has that always been there?” Hazel mumbled in confusion, pushing her blonde curls out of her face. 

“Yes, that’s always been there,” Jonathan whispered back, too tired to laugh at her clumsy nature. He grabbed her waited between his hands, nose wrinkled at the strong scent of vodka wafted off of her. “Jesus, Hazel, how much did have to drink?” 

She eagerly leaned into his chest with her head rested on his chest, humming with happiness. “You’re so warm,” she mumbled into the cotton. 

Jonathan peered over her shoulder at Thomas as he gave a small wave before he turned the motorbike around in the driveway. He quietly sighed to himself. 

Hazel tilted her head back on his shoulder to peer up at her best friend she’s known since middle school. “I was gonna go home, you know, but Mom would have a field day if I showed up this drunk again, so I told Thomas to drive me here instead because I knew you’d take care of me.” 

The tip of Jonathan’s tongue poked against his cheek. She was right. This wasn’t the first time Hazel showed up on his doorstep in the middle of the night, too wasted to return to her own home in fear her mother might catch her sneaking back into her bedroom through the window.

There were times when Hazel found herself needing to let go and often found solace in alcohol. 

“I just- I just need a few hours of sleep and then I’ll be fine!” She reassured him with a gentle pat on his chest. “I’ll be out of here before you or even your mom wakes up. Just a few hours, Jonathan, please? I swear I’ll make it up to you.” 

He shook his head in disbelief, wrapped his arm around Hazen’s waist, and helped her inside of his house. “Alright, c’mon.” 

Hazel resisted the urge to jump for joy at his agreement to let her stay the night for a few hours. They both knew she would be sober after a few hours of sleep, her remarkable ability to sober up after a wild night of drinking. 

She held onto Jonathan’s arm as she attempted to stealthily follow him through the house to his bedroom, careful to not trip over anything or wake the rest of his family. It wouldn’t be the first time Mrs. Byers caught Hazel sneaking into her older son’s bedroom in the middle of the night. 

Her legs crumbled beneath her once she reached his bedroom and she tumbled to the floor at the foot of his bed, arms clutched around her stomach as she silently laughed to herself. A yawn flew from her mouth, a soft reminder of how tired she actually was, resulted in the blonde curling up on the floor with a pillow held against her chest. 

“Here is good…” she muttered.

Jonathan stood in front of his closed bedroom door, staring down at the girl he called his best friend, amused by the way she cuddled with the pillow she found and immediately fell into a deep sleep. He shook his head once again at her figure before he grabbed an extra blanket and pillow from his closet, knowing she’d be furious in the morning if he moved her to his bed like he wanted to do.


	2. 02 - Bike

“Hazel, it’s six-thirty!” Mrs. Henderson’s voice carried through the closed door of her daughter’s bedroom. She angled her head closer to the wooden door, patiently waiting for a noise of confirmation from her oldest child. “Time to get up!”

“Ow, shit!” Hazel softly swore under her breath, startled by her mother on the other side of her room, safely behind the closed door. 

The top of her head throbbed to the beat of her heart from where she banged it against the frame of her window. Her caramel eyes swept over the room and locked on the door as she slyly crawled through the rest of the window, quietly stepping down on the carpet with the toes of her boots, terrified her mother would spontaneously barge into the room before Hazel had the chance to hide her day old clothes. 

Mrs. Henderson strongly did not approve of her daughter’s decisions to party or drink underage. She would never let Hazel hear the end of it if she found out her daughter snuck out once again. This was not the first time of her late night adventures.

“Hazel, are you all right in there?” Her mother questioned from the hallway, unaware of her daughter’s fast acts to strip out of her old clothes. “I heard a bang.” 

The clothes were tossed in the hamper in the corner of her room with her boots kicked underneath her bed. She rubbed her fingers underneath her eyes to remove the majority of the dried mascara and crawled into her messy bed, blankets pulled up to her neck as the door opened with her mother’s head poked through the crack. 

“I’m up, I’m up,” Hazel feigned a yawn and sleepily rubbed her face. She skillful pretended she just woken up a few minutes ago instead of walking home from Jonathan’s house after a wild night of partying in one town over. 

Mrs. Henderson sweetly smiled at her daughter in her bed. “Okay. Well, take a shower and get dressed. I’m making eggs.” 

“You got it, Mom.” Hazel raised her hand in the air with a thumbs up.

“Alright, I have to go wake up your brother now,” her mother commented before she stepped out of the room with the door clicked shut behind her.

The blankets were immediately thrown from Hazel’s body when the door closed, leaving her in her bra and underwear, along with the little bit of day old makeup that survived through the night. A smile formed on her lips, pleased with the way her mother believed she spent all night underneath the same roof.

She fought back a genuine yawn as she climbed out of her bed, quick to throw on an oversized shirt that reached her thighs on her way to her door for the bathroom. The teenager was in desperate need for a shower. Her breath reeked of alcohol and her skin felt like it was covered with other people’s sweat from dancing in the crowded living room.

The door opposite of hers slowly opened and her younger brother stepped out of his bedroom, yawning loudly. His brown curls were messily displayed on top of his head from rolling around in his sleep. 

The siblings stared at each other with narrowed eyes. They simultaneously sprinted for the bathroom at the end of the hallway, elbow jutted out as they attempted to push the other out of their way. Hazel usually beat her brother to the shower first in the morning, except for the few times he managed to wake up a few minutes before she did. 

“You had shower first yesterday, Hazel!” Dustin shouted as he tried to push his way through the door frame. 

“You should have showered last night! You know I always shower in the morning!” She yelled back at him. “I’m older!” 

Dustin angled his head up to glower at her slightly taller figure. “Yeah, which means you are going to die sooner if you don’t take things at a slower pace! So, let me shower first!” 

Hazel gasped in shock. She twisted her body sideways and slipped into the bathroom. “Too far!” She exclaimed before the door slammed in Dustin’s face. 

“Shit!`” Her younger brother cursed under his breath. 

The palms of her hands smoothed over her caramel blonde hair on top of her skull after she locked the door and advanced to the shower, switching the water on. She had hoped to return to her bedroom to grab her clothes for the day, but with her younger brother prepared to hijack the bathroom at any given opportunity, she knew it was no longer an option until she showered. 

The Henderson siblings had a better relationship than most siblings, despite the four year age difference. Dustin always looked up to his older sister, even during their little arguments they occasionally had. Hazel’s love and protective nature over her brother grew impeccably stronger after she spent several nights hugging her brother while he silently cried, feeling utterly abandoned by their father when he left, no longer wanting to be a part of their lives. 

Steam billowed out past the shower curtain from the heated temperature. Hazel stripped out of her few clothes and stepped underneath the running water from the shower head. She breathed in deeply through her mouth when the hot water streamed down her body, hair matted to the top of her head. 

She stood motionless for a few seconds as if the water could wash away all of her sorrows and hopelessness she felt inside, hidden from other’s eyes. Her father’s departure from the family was something that affected the teenager on a deeper level, etched on her heart instead of her skin. 

*

The savory scent of freshly cooked eggs wafted through the household, urging Hazel to walk faster out of the hallway toward the kitchen. Her brother sat perched in his usual spot at the kitchen table with his backpack sat by the metal chair’s legs. 

A metal spatula was held in her mother’s right hand with the handle of a skillet pan grasped in her left hand as she gracefully transferred the scrambled eggs onto two plates. Two pieces of buttered toast were already placed on the plates. She set the skillet and spatula back on the stovetop before she picked up the plates.

Hazel’s backpack dropped to the armchair in the living room before she stepped into the kitchen. 

Her mother spun around with the plates in hand and smiled warmly at her daughter, dressed casually in a gray sweater with red and black stripes tucked into light washed jeans. “Oh, you look cute, sweetheart,” she mused, lovingly. “Is that a new sweater?”

“Thanks, Mom,” Hazel responded with a bright smile. 

Her hand playfully ruffled Dustin’s curls before she settled into her usual chair at the kitchen table to the right of her brother. 

“Oh, c’mon, Hazel!” He grumbled in annoyance. His hand flew up to fix his disheveled curls. “Why do you have to do that all the time?” 

Hazel plucked a piece of toast from her plate after her mother set it down in front of her. “Because I just love your curls oh-so much,” she responded, grinning broadly. “You know—“ She gestured to her younger brother with the toast pinched between her fingers. “I would have curly hair, too, if Mom hadn’t cut my hair when I was younger. Now, I’m stuck with this mess of wavy and straight.” 

Mrs. Henderson gaped at her daughter as she placed the second plate in front of Dustin. “Hey,” she lightheartedly laughed. “I didn’t think your curls would just disappear after that. I was just trying to give you a trim.” 

Dustin rolled his eyes and picked up his fork. “Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard the story a million times.” 

“But, yes, Mom,” she replied, swiveling her head toward her mother near the other end of the table. “It is a new sweater. I bought it last weekend when I went out with Jonathan.” 

Dustin snorted, “With what money? You don’t have a job.”

Hazel narrowed her eyes at his smaller figure across the table. “I saved up some cash from my birthday that I never touched.” 

A peaceful silence settled amongst the small family aside from the scraping noises of forks against the glass plates. A few noises came from Mrs. Henderson as she worked to clean her mess from cooking breakfast. The family didn’t often eat at the kitchen table except for mornings before school and occasional dinners when their favorite shows didn’t play on the television. 

Dustin finished with his plate of food first, proceeding to jump to his feet after his fork clanged against the plate. He hiked the strap of his backpack over his right shoulder. “Alright, I’m off to school,” he announced. 

“Oh, have a good day, Dusty!” Mrs. Henderson called out to his retreating figure. 

“Shit!” Hazel swore under her breath and shoveled the remaining eggs into her mouth as she stood up. 

Her mother’s face fell. “Hey, language!” 

A noise of carelessness emitted past her lips as she rushed to the living room for her backpack before she ran after her younger brother. Her thundering steps echoed throughout the hallway from the soles of her beat up, black Converse pounded against the carpeted flooring until she burst through the side door that led to the garage. The sunlight from the early morning peeked out from behind a cloud and brightly shined inside the opened garage. 

Dustin already had his hands wrapped around the handlebars of his spray painted black and white bike. He kicked off from the ground after he swung his leg over the other side of the bike. The tires suddenly squealed against the concrete of the garage when Hazel abruptly jumped in front of the bike. 

“What the hell, Hazel?!” He swore, annoyed by his sister’s appearance. 

She mischievously smiled down at her brother as he effortlessly balanced on foot on the ground with the other on the bike pedal. “Hi. Want to give your lovely sister a ride to school?” 

“No, not really,” he deadpanned. 

The smile fell from her lips. 

“Why don’t you just catch a ride with Jonathan?” He asked with a slight lisp. 

“It’s Monday,” she reminded him, arms folded over her chest. “His mom needs the car.” 

Dustin’s hand jerked to the left with a pointed finger. “Then take your bike,” he suggested with a knowing smirk. 

Hazel blankly stared at him in response. She blinked at him once and exhaled through her nose, lips pursed together. This wasn’t the first time her brother refused to help her with a ride to school. Some days, their mother offered to take her to school, but most of the time, Hazel caught a ride with Jonathan when he had access to his mother’s car. 

The bike Dustin referred to pathetically laid on its side against the wall of the garage next to a stacked pile of boxes. The back wheel of the bike was hijacked by Dustin and his friends over a year ago when one of their wheels had a rip in it. The group thought she wouldn’t notice for a few months. It was only a couple of days. The wheel never returned to her bike either. 

“That bike?” Hazel pointed to the bike against the wall without looking toward it. “The bike with a missing back wheel? That’s the bike you want me to take?” 

Dustin smirked. “That’s not my problem.”

“After everything nice I do for you and you can’t even help me out with a ride to school,” she tsked in disapproval.

“When have you ever done something nice for me?” He laughed. 

The question momentarily threw the older sibling off guard. She hadn’t expected Dustin to throw the statement back in her face when she hoped to just gain his sympathy instead. Her mind ran wild with moments of the past month she could potentially use as an example. 

She waved her hand between the two of them. “I…I helped you with your homework last week.” 

A look of disbelief washed over his boyish facial features as he gawked at her. “I asked for help writing an essay. I didn’t ask for plagiarized work!”   
Hazel rolled her eyes, waving her hand dismissively. “Oh, please. Mrs. Barter is almost legally blind and she’s always forgetting her glasses! She wouldn’t even have noticed.” 

“Plagiarized work!” Dustin emphasized the words. 

“She doesn’t even the read essays, Dustin!” She retorted, remembering the same teacher from her own middle school days. “She just makes sure you write two pages worth and then gives you an A. I once wrote an essay with the first paragraph about the topic she assigned and the rest was about my favorite songs at the moment.” 

“Is that the essay you tried to give me?” 

“No,” she dismissed. “I tried to give you the one actually about the topic, but every fourth sentence said how I like to drink my coffee.”   
Dustin shook his head with disapproval. He adjusted his position and inched the bike away from his sister prepared to leave her behind. 

“Okay, wait!” Hazel called out before his foot could press down on the pedal. 

The high school was roughly ten minutes away by car and fifteen by bike. If she walked, the time would nearly double by the time she reached the high school. She would surely miss the beginning of first period if her brother wasn’t willing to help her out. 

“Look,” she heaved a large sigh. “I’ll make you deal. If you let me hitch a ride with you, I’ll do one thing you want me to do, no matter what it is— unless, you know, you try to kill a man or think about drugs. No questions asked and I won’t even tell Mom.” 

Her brother’s eyes lit with temptation at the once in a lifetime opportunity. These offers were rare and he knew that. His head cocked to the side as he silently weighed the offer. 

“Hop on,” he spoke after a few seconds of silence. 

Hazel broke into a large grin.


End file.
